Eveready reports 69 per cent growth in net profit

Kolkata, May 17 (UNI) Eveready Industries India Ltd today reported 69 per cent growth in net profit for the year ended March 31, 2006 at Rs 79.66 crore as compared to Rs 46.31 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The net sales for the year increased by 12 per cent to Rs 732.81 crore as against Rs 654.92 crore in the same period last year, vice-chairman and managing director Deepak Khaitan told reporters here.

Sale of real estate resulted in profit of Rs 76.62 crore and borrowings declined to Rs 378 crore in the fiscal end from Rs 509 crore in the last year.

Mr Khaitan said the company's Uttaranchal battery unit would be commissioned by end of the current fiscal at a cost of Rs 70 crore.

He said the company would invest another Rs 50 crore by next calendar for debottlenecking and expansion of its existing units in Kolkata to raise the battery producing capacity to two billion by March 2008.

Eveready, which had already entered the mosquito repellant business, is looking at other products in the FMCG segment for growth, he said.

He said the packet tea, which contributed Rs 75 crore to the overall revenue, would grow by 20 per cent while the batery segment would grow by 10 per cent as against the industry growth rate of around 8 per cent this year.

UNI TJP KK DB1741